Thenewdogbarks

Hello,

I need some help here. I am going for a second interview on the 17th of Feb, in Baltimore. We had our first interview on sep 2nd on 2008. The lady was friendly and professional. She asked as general questions like date of births, how we met, Where do we work? We had common proof like bank account, car insurance, health insurance, . We also had a photo album that she didnt even ask to see. She said that we would hear from the shortly. This took 10 minutes.

In jan, we found out that we were going for a second interview? How anyone experienced a second interview?

Please help!

I have heard from a couple of sources that they have been calling severl people for second interviews at the Baltimore office.

I really hope this comes across the right way, but if they are asking you for another interview then obviously there was something the IO felt was missing and/or inadaquate.

If I were you I would bring a lot more than what you brought last time (it was obviously not enough to convince the IO), its not what you think is enough evidence!

Good Luck! The stokes is a serious interview, there won't be another. Its deportation after that!

It came across just fine, your comment makes sense but here is the story of my first interview experience that I posted here in December so you can understand our situation:

Unfortunately today, I believe I failed my AOS interview that was based on marriage to a USC. I got married to a USC in 2005 after having overstayed my student visa for 3 years. After we got married in 2005, we were very happy for about 6 months and the relationship got rocky. At that time, we didn't make any efforts to have any joint assets to prove our bonafide marriage. We separated for 2 years but never divorced. I told a common friend that I was planning on asking my wife for a divorce and he committed to helping us out with our failed marriage. We worked things out in the beginning of this year and renewed our vows. This time, the relationship has been going great and once we got back together, I told my wife that we needed to start gathering documents to prove our bonafide marriage for when we decide to file for AOS. So we opened a bank account together in March, have an investment property, car insurance, credit cards, bills.. We filed for the AOS and were granted an interview today.

Everything was going well till the IO started asking us for proof of our bonafide marriage. When we presented the documents to him, he stated that all the proofs that we submitted was between March and December of this year and he wanted to see proof from when we first got married in 2005. We told him that we didn't have any and that we separated for 2 years and that's when his behavior totally changed in a negative way obviously. He knew our lawyer very well, which reduced his anger a bit.

At the end, he took my I-93, gave back my passport and EAD (which I believe is a bad sign) and said that's all I have for you guys, "have a nice day".

I am really saddened that this happened and I am sitting here wondering what the next step will be. He didn't seem to doubt the validity of our marriage and that didn't seem to be his issue, he had issues wit the separations and the facts that we had no documents together when we first got married in 2005.

Any comments or advice would be greatly appreciated.

It does not matter what you believe as to the adequacy of the "proof", as tht determination is up to the USCIS.

A second AOS interview is commonly referred to as a "Stokes" interview. Not something to take lightly.

I never mentioned that I was taking this lightly and I am not sure you responded to any of my questions.

Hi all,

My lawyer just e-mailed me this morning to let me know that we have been scheduled for a second interview in Baltimore, MD. The notice address was for my old address, which is probably where they mailed it. It's really strange as I have been receiving all USCIS notifications to my new address so I am not sure why they decided to go with the previous address on this one.

My wife and I were both expecting this interview since we both felt the first one didn't go well at all.

I have a few questions: It's stipulating to ask for Officer Z, is this going to be the same officer that interviewed us the first time?

We have the same proofs we had the first time (which I believe is more than enough), are these even required or is this going to be strictly a separated questionnaire interview?

Thanks all.

Hello All,

I just wanted to share our experience with people to see if anyone has gone through something similar or if someone is currently experiencing what we are experiencing. So we had our interview on Nov 20th, 2008 at 8AM. Sorry if this is kind of a long read but its a detailed account of our experience. Our interviewer welcomed us and was friendly when he first introduced himself. He first apologized for the wait (our interview was scheduled for 8AM he saw us at like 8:30AM so not bad) then as soon as we walked into his office he was all business. He became very serious and intimidating. He began by asking us for our birth certificates, our driver's licenses (I said that I dont have my license currently but I brough in my state ID), and my husband's passport (hubby is the beneficiary), along with his I-94. Then he asked us to raise our right hand and do the oath. He started by asking us very basic questions like our names and dates of birth. He then asked my hubby about his I-94 and visa(he had his I-94 together with his mom's as he came when he was 12yrs old with his mom and his visa was expired). After he checked the documents, he began thumbing through our application paper work and comparing the info on our documents to the copies that we had submitted.

He then asked us how we met and how long we have known each other and we told him that we have known each other since 8th grade, but didn't start dating till after my hubby was out of school. He asked me (the petitioner) most of the questions during the interview. Then he asked me about our wedding, where we got married and how many ppl attended. I explained to him that we got married at the lake county courthouse (he then asked for the marriage certificate) and then we explained that we got married without telling our parents at first and so our wedding had only me and my hubby, and my best friend and his cousin. We explained that we got married without telling our parents because I was part time employed at the time, and was a part time student, and I have a daughter and my husband was not employed so our parents would not have liked the idea of us getting married at the time. The interviewer then asked us if our parents knew about our marriage now and we told him that my husbands parents do because we live with them for the time being, and that my parents knew that we were together and had been together for 2.5 yrs and known each other forever.

He then asked me the names of my hubby's family and I answered, he then asked him about my family and he answered. He asked how long my hubby had been friend with my older brother and he responded that we all went to junior high and high school together. He asked about my younger brother and my hubby responded that he was in Juvi Jail right now because of some stupid stuff that he did. As my husband responded to his questions about my family the interviewer looked like he was looking up my family info on his computer (we think that he was faking that) and then he continued to go through our application thumbing through it back and forth quickly. He then asked us about our jobs so I told him that I was in between jobs but had been starting my new job in a few weeks and told him the name of the company. He immediately turned to my husband and asked him the name of my company. My husband replied with the correct name but he mumbled part of it cause his question surprised him. He asked him to repeat it as if he didn't hear him and my husband cleared his throat and told him the correct name. He then asked my husband and asked him where he worked, he told him where he worked (a good company) and he asked him for some pay stubs and my husband gave them to him. He then made a comment saying "Oh so you JUST started working in Oct" as if he just started to work because of the interview but the reality was that my husband had a couple of offers but his EAD did not arrive till late september. I am not sure if we explained that or not but thought about it later kind of mad. He then asked us if we had any proof of a bona-fide marriage and we presented him with the following:

1) We had our joint bank account both savings and checking that we opened back in may when we got married

2) We had dental and health insurance that we got after my hubby got his job

3) We had dental bills that we got after we had treatment ONCE we finally had insurance

4) We recently bought our very first new car together so we had our bill of sale (with both of our name on it)

5) We had car insurance (in which I was listed as an excluded driver because I do not have a DL because of two stupid DUIs that I got cause I was young and stupid)

6) We had a credit card with $300 credit limit but we hadn't gotten the cards yet (both of our credits aren't stellar and it took us a while to get)

We also had letters that we had written to each other , wedding cards that we got from friends, and greeting cards from birthdays and valentines days that he did not even bother to look at or ask for.

When looking at the documents he first asked about the bank accounts at first he made a comment about how these were all recent statements and he asked if we had one or two from when we first opened the account and we replied that they were there in the pile and then he looked again and found a couple of statements from when we first opened it. Then he asked why there was little or no activity on the account after around mid July until October and that there were no direct deposits from my job on the account. We explained that at the beginning we got some money as gifts from friends and family and that a little after that I got laid off of my job and I was a student and my hubby was unemployed so for the first few months we lived off of that money completely and we became negative on the account (~-200) and that all the money that came in from my job we were using to live and that depositing the money to the bank account would have taken 200 valuable dollars to us at those times so the account stayed negative for a month or two (we cashed my checks to get the cash). Then my hubby finally got his job offer the last week of september and started work on his bday and then money finally started coming in for us. He has a good job as an Engineer and his income is good (~60k) so now we finally have some money. The interviewer made a comment " It looks like your account activity and his job both happened after you found out about the date of your interview" BUT that is only true because it takes them so damn long to get the EAD! He had a job offer that he had to pass up back in July...

Then he looked at the medical and dental insurance cards, then medical bills and made one other comment of the dates of the coverage and treatments were since october (AGAIN my husband got his job in October!) We both had a lot of work done on our teeth (root canals, etc) since we didn't have insurance before.

He looked at the credit card statement (that we had printed out) and made a comment about the credit line being only $300. And we explained that we were young and had not credit, mind you my hubby is 23 and I am 24.

The next thing he looked at was the bill of sale for the car (joint ownership), he looked at the interest rate (10.5%) and said to us but I thought you said that you had bad credit? You got a good interest rate. 10.5% is not that good of a rate. And my hubby told him that the economy was pretty bad and that the dealers wanted to sell us the car. He replied "U-huh ok"

Then he asked about the car insurance and my husband handed the policy to the interviewer and the interviewer saw his name on the insurance as the insured and my hubby responded that the insurance company made us sign an exclusion form before they insured us and the interviewer said " Oh really, is that what they said?" and then I told him yes that's what they said...they told us that they can't insure us unless i signed the form because my license is suspended because of my stupid DUIs. He replied" oh, ok"

Then he asked us to see some pictures of us and we brought 3 or 4 albums with about 300 or more pics of us from back in 2006 when we first started dating until recent sporting events, concerts that we had gone to, my daughter's birthday party, my brother's birthday party, and just us on our honeymoon at the house by ourselves . He looked at our weeding pictures, he thumbed through all of the pics pretty quickly. He seemed happy with the pictures that we had, smiled a couple of times.

He then flipped through the application and asked me if we had a family cell phone plan, and I replied no because our contracts are not up yet. He then asked me if I knew what my hubby's carrier was and I smiled and answered T-mobile, then he turned to my hubby and asked him the same question and he smiled and replied AT&T. He looked some stuff on on his computer, like he was checking out answers (we asked our lawyer if he could pull our credits or not and our lawyer told us not unless he asks to) but we didn't care because we had nothing to hide.

Then with a semi-smile he thumbed through the application again, signed something and stamped something and asked us if he could keep some of our bank statements, and medical bills, we told him that he could keep everything except for the car bill of sale and my hubby's paystubs and one of my paystubs but that he could make a copy. He then asked my husband the questions about terrorism, and polygamy, etc and then asked me to sign the application. Then he gave it to my Chris to sign as well and Chris replied where? and then interviewer made a joke "Ha look she took most of the room on the page, I bet that's how it is in the bedroom and the shower!" We both laughed enthusiastically because we thought we were being approved and then my husband signed it and made a comment about how i take over the closet space in our room, lol. The interviewer said we are almost done, I am just going to go make a copy of these documents ill be right back. When he left the room, we both turned around and gave each other a big hug and thought that we were approved. He came back and gave us back our originals, then said "Ok, at this point I am not able to make a final decision on your case. A supervisor has to approve everything and I have to take a closer look at your documents that you provided. You'll get a response in the mail saying either Congratulations and Welcome to the US or a letter telling you that you failed or that we require more evidence if thats the case. We might not get to it until after the holidays cause we are quite busy around these months" He then shook our hands and let us go.

Needless to say we were both pretty dissapointed that we did not get approved right then but we called our lawyer and asked him about it. Our lawyer said not to worry too much because he might be a new interviewer and so he wants to look at the documents closely and even then he HAS to get the case approved by a supervisor. He told us that we will hopefully be hearing back some good news within a few weeks. Our lawyer made us feel a little better but after waiting and not hearing anything back until now, we are both hoping to hear soon and make it a Happy New Year. Please share any similar experiences or any insight. This process seems perpetual!

Your comments will be greatly appreciated,

Linz and Chris

Wow Linz and Chris, your situation is very similar to ours. We had our interview in Baltimore on December 9th and it was a little worse than yours. My wife and I have been married for 4 years but separated for 2 years about 6 months after we first got married. The IO asked us to provide joint proofs of bonafide marriage from when we first got married in 2005, which we don't have. We only have proofs from the beginning of 2008 and that didn't seem to satisfy him. Pretty much, he also asked us the same questions he asked you. Since then, we haven't heard anything and we are playing the waiting game. Our online case status never changed either and still indicates that the case is still pending.

Since our situations are similar, let's keep eachother posted on any changes. Good luck!

About them taking the I-94... I have yet to read a story from someone who's I-94 did not get taken out his passport after the interview..

You should see it like this: You need your I-94 in your passport for as long as you are in the US on a visa, as soon as you do not use your visa, you are either illegal, a legal resident (conditional or permanent) or a US citizen.. and, well, you cannot be a citizen yet and I highly doubt they will let you stay in the US illegally.. for me this can only mean that you got approved and soon will receive your green card.

Also, from all stories I read (and I read quite a lot), from everyone that didn't got his green card, they were told so at the end of the interview.

So yeah, I do think you should not worry and that you will see a change on the USCIS website soon, saying the card production is ordered

Wow, that's great info, very encouraging but a little worrisome nonetheless considering that now that he took my I-94, I have nothing to prove legal status besides the EAD (which clearly isn't a card that prove legal status).

Hang in there Utilityman1.. gather all that you can think of and I'm sure eventually they will approve you.

Keep us posted!

I sure will Rosie, thanks for your support!

Utilityman1: as everyone said you have to wait until they request something or change your status.

Meanwhile it doesn't hurt to gather evidence that could prove what you said:

If you went on honeymoon somewhere, rented a house, anything like that could help.

For example, if you went on honeymoon you hopefully have pictures, receipts from where you stayed, etc.

If you rented a place: have your landlord do an affidavit that you were both living there as a married couple from date X-Y

Have family do an affidavit of support stating what they know of your relationship.

Old phone bills with both names,

Letters with envelops in both names received back then

Copy of anything that would have your names at the same address (even if your names are on different documents)

Etc.

Insurance (if you share it), anything you've done together in the past that would have a written trace.

Cecy,

The affidavit from the landlord is a great idea. Unfortunately, no phone bills as we both have company phones. Thanks for the advice, or shall I say, merci beaucoup et j'apprecie votre support.

Affidavits/sworn statements can also be helpful.

These are all great ideas but who do I send them to? I have no idea what's going on or what's going to happen. Am I going to get an RFE? Will I jut be denied? Will I have a second interview?

Like I mentioned previously, he just said thank you and have a nice day and showed us the door...

You need to wait for the decision, they might request you to provide more evidence pertaining to bona fide marriage between you and your wife. Or, they will grant you for the approval. Don't worry, it's not time for me to say that you'll be approved but hoping for all the best luck. You've tried everything that your relationship will work out and back to normal, they must understand that.

Hopefully!

Affidavits/sworn statements can also be helpful.

These are all great ideas but who do I send them to? I have no idea what's going on or what's going to happen. Am I going to get an RFE? Will I jut be denied? Will I have a second interview?

Like I mentioned previously, he just said thank you and have a nice day and showed us the door...

Maybe you can ask friends and family for pictures of the two of you from events that you possibly went to? Just a thought. Good luck with this.

Thanks. All I can do is be positive and wait patiently.

Giving you your passport & EAD is not a bad sign. Your green card would be mailed to you after the interview. It may not update for sometime, but your online case status might give you more info.

Yes, your situation (no proof of the relationship before March) looks bad. But there's nothing you can do about it now. Maybe you can look and see if you have any proof from earlier in the marriage, in case it is requested. You don't have to have joint accounts and bills, typically IDs with same home address, bills from both individuals with the home address listed, separate bank account statements with the same address. But really I think its wait and see.

I believe that our attorney didn't want to sound too skeptical considering we were distraught after the interview. He said to just think of something we may have from 2005 but the fact of the matter is we really don't have anything (as sad as it sounds). He also said that they may send us an RFE requesting that evidence, which we obviously don't have.

At this point, it's a waiting game.

Thanks guys for your replies.

I guess all you can do is wait. I think it will be probably be ok. But I can understand why the officer was upset, as well. I totally believe you, and he probably did, too. But if someone was perpetrating a visa fraud and didn't want to live together, they might very well show up with the same evidence that you had.... He's between a rock and a hard place.

I agree, I am totally not mad at him but disappointed in the situation. He has a job to do and I respect that. The circumstances weren't ideal and all I can do is wait.

I was granted permanent residency today and the IO took my I-94 but told me to keep my EAD.

I don't think that's very rare and when I got home I had a CRIS update saying that Card Production Ordered.

Keep an eye on the website and hope the IO decided to let you pass through.

GOOD LUCK!

Thanks buddy and congrats. Unfortunately, no CRIS e-mail or online update as of yet.

Giving you your passport & EAD is not a bad sign. Your green card would be mailed to you after the interview. It may not update for sometime, but your online case status might give you more info.

Yes, your situation (no proof of the relationship before March) looks bad. But there's nothing you can do about it now. Maybe you can look and see if you have any proof from earlier in the marriage, in case it is requested. You don't have to have joint accounts and bills, typically IDs with same home address, bills from both individuals with the home address listed, separate bank account statements with the same address. But really I think its wait and see.

I believe that our attorney didn't want to sound too skeptical considering we were distraught after the interview. He said to just think of something we may have from 2005 but the fact of the matter is we really don't have anything (as sad as it sounds). He also said that they may send us an RFE requesting that evidence, which we obviously don't have.

At this point, it's a waiting game.

Thanks guys for your replies.

Unfortunately today, I believe I failed my AOS interview that was based on marriage to a USC. I got married to a USC in 2005 after having overstayed my student visa for 3 years. After we got married in 2005, we were very happy for about 6 months and the relationship got rocky. At that time, we didn't make any efforts to have any joint assets to prove our bonafide marriage. We separated for 2 years but never divorced. I told a common friend that I was planning on asking my wife for a divorce and he committed to helping us out with our failed marriage. We worked things out in the beginning of this year and renewed our vows. This time, the relationship has been going great and once we got back together, I told my wife that we needed to start gathering documents to prove our bonafide marriage for when we decide to file for AOS. So we opened a bank account together in March, have an investment property, car insurance, credit cards, bills.. We filed for the AOS and were granted an interview today.

Everything was going well till the IO started asking us for proof of our bonafide marriage. When we presented the documents to him, he stated that all the proofs that we submitted was between March and December of this year and he wanted to see proof from when we first got married in 2005. We told him that we didn't have any and that we separated for 2 years and that's when his behavior totally changed in a negative way obviously. He knew our lawyer very well, which reduced his anger a bit.

At the end, he took my I-93, gave back my passport and EAD (which I believe is a bad sign) and said that's all I have for you guys, "have a nice day".

I am really saddened that this happened and I am sitting here wondering what the next step will be. He didn't seem to doubt the validity of our marriage and that didn't seem to be his issue, he had issues wit the separations and the facts that we had no documents together when we first got married in 2005.

Any comments or advice would be greatly appreciated.